Press Coverage

Giving money to charities is something we all do when we can. Do you ever wonder just how much of the money you give goes to those who need it most? Now a new website has been launched to compare and rate British Asian charities called Charity Clarity. The BBC's Vishva Samani has more on this.

These are the Top 10 Charities in the category of Financial Health from the ones we have measured, according to Charity Clarity. They are assigned a rating out of 3, based on 5 metrics assigned different weights. As published in Asian Voice.

We as a society have different rulebooks for the nonprofit sector and the rest of the world when it comes to assessing what makes a great charity. We penalise high executive pay, marketing spend and the pursuit of new ideas for generating revenue in charities in a way that we would not in a business. In other words, we penalise charities for thinking big.

With increasing wealth in the community and more and more young Hindus wanting to donate, they want to know that their donations ultimately benefit society in the intended ways. They are are going to start asking about how effective are the organisations in their governance, transparency and accountability.

The way we think about charity is dead wrong. Many donors say they want to determine and reward the best charities with the biggest accomplishments. They want to give money. But they don't know to whom. They want greater transparency in the sector, to showcase the best charities and support others which need assistance.

There is a lot of good the British Asian diaspora can achieve in their home countries by better understanding the social impact their donations have. There are huge opportunities in this area for the diaspora, to donate or invest in worthwhile causes back home that are transparent, have good governance, and produce benefits to society and the economy that can be robustly quantified and independently verified.

Lord Dolar Popat says, sadly too many Hindu and British charities are still not transparent with their funding and with their elections. The question we too rarely ask ourselves is 'do we know where the that money goes?' how easy is it to access properly audited accounts and what assurances can an organisation provide.

Quotes

[O]ur good, hardworking and effective charities will welcome ...[this work]... as an obvious evolution in the history of our community, says Lord Dolar Popat.